For a long time shoe presses have been known which comprise, in a rigid and undeformable enclosure, a flexible and impermeable membrane which, while exerting a hydraulic or pneumatic pressure around the shoe, is applied exactly on the contours of the elements to be glued, which are introduced in this enclosure or pocket (i.e., Pic press, French Pat. No. 1,1035,989 of Apr. 20, 1951).
To adapt this known apparatus for use in the particular case of gluing elements of footwear, the mounted upper of which is high or very high, as for example, ankle boots, high boots or similar articles, applicant herein has developed improved machines for this purpose. More particularly, he has developed a glue press for making ankle boots, in which press the flexible pocket is made adjustable in height depending on the type of footwear to be manufactured and is designed to exert a uniform enveloping pressure at all points of the footwear, which are held in a fixed position (see French patent application No. 79.27634 of 11/9/1979).
In this type of press, the front and back part of the footwear are each held in a shaper while pressure is exerted in the flexible pocket of the device. These shapers are hard to adjust for proper operation as a function of the shape of the footwear. Further, because the middle part of the footwear is not locked in, the pressure exerted on the upper part of the footwear tends to crush the latter somewhat and thus creases may be produced on the upper which may make it necessary to reject the footwear as being unsatisfactory.